


Picture To Burn

by Notsoawesomenerd



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, High School AU, Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift, Swift Perfect Week 2020, bechloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24258031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notsoawesomenerd/pseuds/Notsoawesomenerd
Summary: Beca and Chloe have a tradition of burning pictures for cathartic purposes.
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 13
Kudos: 71





	Picture To Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you iPhone for creating SwiftxBechloe week and causing me to put all the other stuff I’ve been working on hold to write this lol I’ve never written something in one day and posted it without editing. So I hope its not too bad

**Picture to Burn:**

Chloe and Beca had been best friends since Chloe moved from the city out to a small country town in the fifth grade. Her dad had some sort of midlife crisis and bought a ranch after he sold his share of his company. He uprooted her and her mom to a podunk town where people seemed to drive pick up trucks exclusively, wear boots at fancy functions, and say y'all with a twang Chloe wasn't sure she would ever be able to master.

Beca lived down the street. They were technically neighbors, but in the city there would've been a dozen homes in between them. Beca and her mom greeted them on that first day with a plate of brownies. She thought Beca was sweet and adorably awkward as she tried to hide behind her mom without making it obvious that she was hiding behind her mom.

Chloe had asked her to stay and maybe help her unpack and Beca nervously agreed. Beca followed her upstairs and marveled at the amount of pink one person was capable of adorning their bedroom with. She flinched at the sight, but nevertheless went about unpacking and arranging everything in Chloe's boxes expertly following instructions. Chloe was a pure chatterbox and spent the majority of the afternoon telling her life story, as much as there was to tell at that point.

Time had gotten away, and Chloe insisted Beca stay for dinner. Beca was shocked at the level of difficulty it was to say no to this bubbly redhead that just appeared out of thin air into her life. She mumbled her way through dinner as Chloe's parents asked her question after question. She wished Chloe would take over and ramble on instead. But luckily the sun was setting and Beca knew she needed to get home.

Chloe followed her to the porch and wrapped her in a bear hug. Beca flinched and awkwardly patted her on the back in return.

"Thank you for helping me today."

"Yeah. No problem."

"I think we're going to be really fast friends, Beca Mitchell." Chloe smiled brightly before turning around back into her new home. And, as was almost always the case as Beca would realize over the years, Chloe was right.

* * *

It was like they blinked and senior year was upon them. The past 7 years had flown by and Beca and Chloe had gone through a lot together, but came out stronger than they could have imagined.

Beca had once carried Chloe on her back for a mile and a half when she had fallen out of a tree and broke her ankle. Chloe was nearly hyperventilating in pain when Beca got on her knees and told her to wrap her arms around her neck. Beca was glad Chloe couldn't see her face because it was probably turning blue as she strained and used every muscle in her body to stand back up. Once she did and Chloe was securely in place, she carefully walked her all the way back home. It probably would've been easier for Beca just to sprint to Chloe's house and get her dad to drive out there to get her, but that just wasn't Beca's first instinct.

Chloe had been by Beca's side when she came out her sophomore year of high school. With permission from the principal, she hung up posters around school in support of the LGBTQ+ community. She had stayed up all night with Beca to make them. And she went at any homophobic bullies who dared to say anything to Beca like a viscious guard dog. So, Beca never really had to worry about getting bullied.

Beca had sat on the floor of Chloe's room as the redhead mourned the loss of their family dog that had passed away. She dressed in all black and wrote a little speech about Gus and then burned the paper along with a copy of a picture of the dog as a memorial. She let Chloe cry on her shoulder all night until they woke up with aching backs and stiff necks.

Chloe helped Beca through her first breakup with a girl that she had been dating for three months. They were about to have sex and suddenly the girl panicked and told Beca she was straight and couldn't do it. Chloe saw her the next day making out with a girl on the basketball team and wasted no time in giving her a firm slap that left a red handprint on her cheek.

Beca cried a little bit as Chloe sat with her on her bed. But she was more confused about what was wrong with her than anything. And Chloe spent most of that night explaining that absolutely nothing was wrong with her and how great she was. They ended the night with Chloe taking a picture of the ex-girlfriend that was hanging on Beca's wall and burning it. She also announced a curse on the slut. Beca laughed at Chloe's dramatics and felt relieved that she had such a good best friend. Really, the best friend in the world.

Chloe had been fairly lucky in the romance department. There had been crushes and kisses. But she had only one boyfriend in high school. Tom. They started dating at the beginning of Junior year and were still going strong. Although, strong might be exaggerating it a bit.

He had been Chloe's perfect fantasy. Tall, dark, handsome. He was an athlete. Everyone loved him. They were voted cutest couple in their junior year yearbook. They were going to go to prom and take pictures and be the image of a perfect high school love story. And who knows? Chloe thought maybe someday they'd get married and be the adorable high school sweethearts.

But that perfect fantasy started unraveling as senior year began. Tom became captain of the football team. He was obsessed with watching film and making his high protein meals. Between practices, film sessions, workouts, and working on his stupid old truck, there was barely any time for her anymore.

He had blown her off night after night saying he was either too tired from football or had too much homework. They used to text constantly throughout the day and send each other snap chats of anything and nothing with cute little emojis. Chloe wouldn't admit it to anyone but Beca, but her heart broke a little bit when Tom had let their snapchat streak end because he simply just forgot about it because he was busy.

Beca did her best not to meddle. She knew friends who spoke bad of the other's boyfriend didn't usually come out on top. She stayed supportive whenever Chloe would come to her to vent her frustrations with Tom. With each passing week Beca grew more and more annoyed at this guy who had the privilege of dating Chloe Beale. He was an idiot for not wanting to spend any second of his spare time with her. It was never hard for Beca to do. Even when she didn't have spare time, she found time for Chloe.

It all came to a head when Chloe and Tom were parked outside her house. Chloe had basically begged him to come inside and at least hang out for a while. She felt like she hadn't gotten to spend any real time with him. He kept making excuses, and she kept complaining about the lack of dates and quality time. He finally had enough and hit his steering wheel in frustration.

"Quit being so obsessive right now." He groaned and looked at the roof of the truck. "I have responsibilities. Just because I don't spend every second with you doesn't mean I don't love you."

"I'm not asking you to spend every second with me." Chloe rolled her eyes. "I know you're busy but when you spend your free Saturday hanging out with your teammates when you promised we would drive out to the lake, I get a little upset. I feel like you'd rather be with them than with your girlfriend."

"Well maybe if my girlfriend would sleep with me…" He mumbled and then widened his eyes as he realized he verbalized those thoughts. "Chloe, that's not-"

"Well, there's plenty of girls at this school who will gladly open their legs for you." Chloe huffed in anger and yanked on the door. But it was jammed like always so she had to give it a good shove.

"Chloe, stop being crazy!" Tom reached out to try and stop her.

"Yeah, I'm crazy. Go and tell your friends I'm crazy and obsessive, I'm sure that'll make you feel better." Chloe grunted as the door finally pried open. "But thank you for making me finally realize who you really are. Just a redneck boy who sucks at lying and only wanted to be with me to get in my pants. I've never been more happy to disappoint someone!"

"Chloe, stop." Tom pleaded as Chloe held the door open for a final moment. "I love you."

"Oh, please. You love yourself more than you could ever love me." Chloe slammed the door.

"And one more thing." Chloe glared at Tom through the window that was in a perpetual state of being half rolled down. "I hate this stupid, ugly pick-up truck that's a glorified pile of metal that you won't even let me drive!" She gave the truck one last kick before stomping away down the road towards Beca's house. Tom just drove right past her and sped off.

She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she walked around the side of the house where Beca's bedroom window was. She knocked firmly several times. It didn't take long for Beca to open it up and look at Chloe with concern.

"Tom and I broke up." Chloe had her arms wrapped around her chest and Beca couldn't help her inside fast enough and wrap her own arms around her in comfort. They stood in Beca's room holding each other for who knows how long. Beca's shirt was getting damp with Chloe's tears but she didn't care. She'd stand there all night if that's what Chloe needed.

Chloe finally took a deep breath and leaned back, looking at Beca with her now red and puffy eyes.

"I'm sorry for bawling all over you." She chuckled as she wiped her face with her hands.

"Anytime." Beca grinned as she kept a hold of Chloe's arms. "So...do you want to talk about it, yell about it, or eat about it?"

"All of the above?" Chloe looked up with a sly smile that Beca quickly mirrored.

They drove to their favorite burger place and got their usual. Two burgers, a chocolate milkshake, a strawberry milkshake, and a basket of fries to share. They stuffed their faces as Chloe talked through all her feelings about Tom. She realized she probably should've dumped him the first time he got annoyed when she didn't sleep with him. Beca made a few suggestions about taking a bat, knife, or bucket of paint to his truck, she wasn't picky. Chloe laughed at all of Beca's ideas of getting back at him, knowing none of them would really happen.

"I could tell everyone he's gay." Chloe mused and then her face morphed into one of horror. "I'm so sorry, that was so insensitive of me. I shouldn't have said that."

"Chloe its fine." Beca waved her off.

"No, I shouldn't have insinuated there was something wrong or weird about being gay or something to be less than proud of." Chloe quickly reached out and grabbed Beca by the hand.

"I know you didn't mean that." Beca gave her a look that said she really wasn't offended and Chloe sat back, relieved.

"I should just date all his friends on the football team. Its not like I haven't had offers."

"They'd probably be just as sleazy." Beca shook her head as she dug through the fries for the ones with skin.

"True. And I bet he's going to miss me. He'll regret blowing me off all the time like he did." Chloe said determinedly, convincing herself she was far too good for him.

"Well, if he misses you he better keep it to himself. Because trying to come crawling back to you will be bad for his health if I have anything to say about it." Beca huffed as she slurped the remainder of her milkshake.

"I love when you get all protective." Chloe giggled.

"I have an idea. A real one." Beca leaned back against the booth and stuck her chest out as she always did to signal she was finished. "Let's go home, get changed, you grab all the pictures of Tom you can find, and then we drive out to the lake."

"Oh em gee, yes!" Chloe's eyes widened with glee. She hadn't even told Beca about how much she had been wanting to go to the lake. "We should hurry before it gets dark."

They gathered up all their supplies in record time and Beca met Chloe back outside her house.

"You wanna drive?" Beca knew how much Chloe loved driving. But her parents were waiting for her 18th birthday to get her a car. So she didn't get the chance as much as she'd like. Beca got her jeep over the summer and knew Chloe was jealous but too nice to show it. So she tried to let the redhead drive from time to time. Especially when they took the top down.

"Yes!" Chloe nearly squealed as she caught the keys and hopped in the driver's seat. Beca always knew how to make her feel better. They drove the whole way singing obnoxiously to whatever song played on the radio and let the wind blow their hair all over the place. Chloe was smiling so hard it was like nothing bad had happened that day.

They finally reached the lake and found a little deserted area. Beca plopped down first and pulled out the box of matches. Chloe handed her a picture of her and Tom at prom last spring.

"To Tom." Beca held up a picture as she struck a match in her other hand. "You had the best girl in the world and now you're just another picture for us to burn."

Beca lit it on fire and watched as it crinkled up and the ashes fell to the ground. "Burn, baby burn." She mumbled quietly. Just as the fire was about to reach her fingertips she flicked it into the water. She turned to look at Chloe who hadn't taken her eyes off Beca.

"You're supposed to announce the curse." Beca looked at her curiously. "What?"

"Best girl in the world?" Chloe asked with hopeful eyes.

"Shut up." Beca rolled her eyes and Chloe noticed a little blush rising to her cheeks. As she grabbed another picture to burn, Chloe stopped her and stacked them all neatly.

"We shouldn't burn all of them." Chloe shrugged. "We shouldn't be _that_ environmentally irresponsible."

"Oh my God, you're such a nerd." Beca laughed with a playful roll of her eyes.

"We'll put them in a shredder and give them to Mrs. Sendrick down the street to put in her cat's litter box."

"Dude!" Beca's eyes widened. "That's an awesome plan."

They giggled together for a moment before falling into a comfortable silence.

"Best girl in the world, huh?" Chloe bumped her shoulder against Beca, letting her know she wasn't letting the comment go.

"Well you are." Beca shrugged and played with some sand at her feet shyly. Chloe looked at her for a moment, feeling something strange in her chest that she'd never felt before. For Beca at least.

"I think its a tie." Chloe rested her head on Beca's shoulder and smiled when she felt Beca tip her own to rest on top.

"You deserve someone better than Tom." Beca spoke quietly. "You deserve someone who's going to treat you like the perfect person you are. Someone who wants to spend all their time with you. Someone who would walk to the ends of the earth just to make you smile. Someone who makes you completely and wholly happy."

Chloe swallowed and lifted her head. Beca turned to look at her, sensing Chloe was about to say something.

"You make me happy." She said and Beca looked down, almost sadly. So Chloe continued. "Even when I was with Tom and disappointed that he was busy. I was almost relieved because I got to spend time with you. Every bad thing that's happened to me since I moved her, you've made it a little better. You've made it easier to bear. And every good thing that's happened to me, you've only made it better."

"Same." Beca grinned, mentally kicking herself for her inability to be eloquent. Chloe watched Beca shift ever so slightly, clearly nervous and unable to maintain eye contact. Chloe couldn't believe she'd never seen it before now. Before she had time to think or second guess she placed her hand on Beca's cheek and turned her head to face her. She looked into Beca's eyes which were now focused on her, looking for any hesitation. When she found none she moved forward and gently pressed her lips against Beca's.

She'd never felt a spark from a first kiss quite like she was feeling now. As she held Beca's cheek it was like an intense bolt of electricity flashed through her body from her hand all the way down to her toes. She was about to lean in further but felt Beca pull away. Her eyes shot open in fear.

"You're...you're just upset about Tom." Beca whispered with her eyes closed. But she didn't move away. It was like she was pleading for Chloe to tell her she was wrong, that Chloe wanted this. Wanted Beca.

"No, I'm not." Chloe whispered right back as she pulled Beca back to her and inhaled sharply as their lips met again. Only now it was firmer, more persistent. And with every tilt of the head, with every new brush of soft lips an intensity between them grew. Chloe finally sighed with relief and anticipation. Beca took the opportunity to slip her tongue between Chloe's lips and destroy any possible misunderstanding of this being just a chaste friend kiss.

Beca moaned at the first feel of Chloe's tongue on hers. The rest of her body seemed to regain the ability to move as she twisted herself to better face Chloe and place her hands around Chloe's jaw as if holding her in place. Chloe reached up and gently held on to one of Beca's wrists as if to tell her not to move. They had always excelled at nonverbal communication.

Time seemed to both freeze and speed up as they sat there beside the water letting their tongues dance and meet over and over again like the small rippling waves on the lake. Chloe found herself inching closer to her best friend so now she could feel Beca's rapid heartbeat against her own. She ran her hand through Beca's hair as she leaned in to sink further into her.

She kissed Beca with a desperation she never knew was bubbling beneath the surface. She kissed her like she needed Beca with every breath that she wasn't quite able to take in that moment. And Beca kissed her back the same way. Beca was an amazing kisser, and Chloe couldn't believe they'd never shared even an experimental kiss in the time they'd known each other. But this was worth the wait.

They both pulled apart at the same time, but didn't move too far. They both let out ragged breaths as they tried to regain some of the oxygen they had lost while they had been locked in the most intense kiss either had experienced. Beca smiled as she realized her chest was rising and falling almost as fast as it did that day she had to carry an injured Chloe home. They rested there for a moment, breathing heavily, letting this situation sink in. But they didn't move from holding on to each other.

"That was the best kiss I ever had." Chloe finally said as she rested her forehead against Beca's.

"Same." Beca grinned, knowing whatever words she could string together wouldn't do justice to how she was feeling in this moment.

"Let's go home." Chloe finally pulled back and stood up, holding out a hand for Beca. It had gotten dark in the time they had spent making out and neither one of them had had a clue.

The ride back was fairly quiet. Chloe kept putting her fingers on her lips, reliving the moment over and over in her head. She would grin shyly and glance at Beca who would look over to her and smile and blush before quickly turning back to the road.

They pulled up to Chloe's house and Chloe turned to look at Beca hopefully before she opened the door.

"Can you stay over tonight?"

"Um." Beca gulped. She didn't want to ruin this, but she didn't want to move too fast either. And above all, she didn't want to hurt Chloe.

"Just to cuddle." Chloe smiled, once again reading Beca's rambling mind. "And maybe kiss a little."

"Yeah." Beca let out a relieved breath. "That sounds perfect."

They spent the night in Chloe's bed as they had done many nights before. But never quite like they did that night. They exchanged soft, languid kisses, breaking apart only to breathe in enough oxygen to continue. Chloe thought she might need to turn the AC down, she was getting so hot with each brush of her lips against Beca's and each stroke of Beca's tongue against hers.

They finally found a natural end to their makeout session, and Chloe smiled proudly at the Beca laying in front of her. The brunette's hair was a mess from hands roaming through its curls for the past hour or so. Her lips were swollen; her cheeks were flushed; and her pupils were so wide they were covering nearly all of the beautiful steely blue irises. Chloe decided this look on Beca had quickly become her favorite.

She gave Beca a nudge to roll over and she put her hand around the slim stomach. Beca quickly placed hers over Chloe's and nestled comfortably against the redhead behind her.

"Becs?"

"Yeah?"

"I've never been more happy than I am right now."

* * *

They spent the rest of the weekend together. Literally never leaving each other's sight except to shower or use the bathroom. It was one of the most glorious weekends of either of their lives. Chloe never really knew what blissful meant. Sure, she knew the definition and general meaning. But she'd never felt it quite so acutely as she did every time Beca held her hand, kissed her, or snuggled with her.

It was quite a disappointment when Monday morning came and they knew they had to leave their little bubble and go back to school. Chloe was especially not looking forward to facing Tom. But she was thrilled she'd have Beca's hand to hold if she ever felt herself getting upset.

They were walking hand in hand through the halls of school. They both agreed they didn't want to hide or keep it a secret. And they were both extremely relieved to know the other felt the same. They rounded a corner and Chloe saw Tom standing with his friends. Chloe brought them to a stop and looked at Beca.

"I don't want you to feel like I'm using you. But would you be okay if we kissed right in front of Tom and his dumb friends. Show him that I found someone better and I'm happier."

"I think that sounds…" Beca paused, pretending to think. Chloe looked at her with more and more anxiety the longer she waited for an answer. "That sounds awesome." Beca smirked and pulled Chloe along to keep walking.

When they reached the space where Tom was joking around with the other boys, Chloe caught his eye. She quickly turned and grabbed Beca's cheeks and pulled her in for a firm kiss. Beca happily wrapped her arms around her waist to pull her impossibly closer. Chloe pulled back with a happy sigh and smiled when Beca took a moment to re-open her eyes.

"Dude, isn't that your girlfriend?" One of the boys gasped in shock and Tom just stood there dumly looking at the girls in disbelief.

"Ex-girlfriend." Chloe smiled and pulled Beca along as they walked to their next class.

Beca had never been more grateful for someone to be another picture to burn.


End file.
